Lake Toya

Lake Toya is a caldera lake in southwestern Hokkaido, ringed by the active Usu volcano and the perfectly conical Showa-shinzan, and Maeda returned to it repeatedly throughout his career — a subject rooted in the landscape of his native island. This first treatment of the motif likely emphasizes the lake's broad, calm surface and the encircling volcanic silhouettes, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations carrying the transition from water to mountain to sky. The choice of Hokkaido scenery places Maeda outside the Honshu [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) canon that dominated [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) publishing, where Mount Fuji, Kyoto temples, and Tokaido stations supplied the bulk of the imagery. By insisting on his own region's volcanic geology and northern light, Maeda extended the meisho-e idea into territory shin-hanga had largely ignored. The print is consistent with his [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) practice of carving and printing his own blocks, where the carving rhythm itself contributes to the texture of stone and water rather than being concealed beneath color.